New Post Re: waiting lines
According to the book "Walt's Revolution, by the numbers", the design wait time is about 45 minutes for theme parks. For regular amusement parks, it's shorter, more like 30 minutes. Anyone correct me if I remember things incorrectly

Holly3216
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Posts: 81
(5/8/06 12:28 pm)
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New Post Re: waiting lines Grah! I don't know where you could get these numbers. I'm sure the design of queue size has a lot to do with throughput, and I can't find numbers on this either. Haunted Mansion at WDW has a small queue (maybe the other HM's do too) probably because it's a continuous load system (Spaceship Earth is the same way). It "eats" people. Rides like Splash Mountain don't... so partly, the size of the queue probably depends on the load system... estimated throughput.

I can't find #'s for throughput or queue size, but there are other numbers on the internet from which you might be able to make some rough estimates. For example:

If you believe what you read on the internet (Wikipedia)...

The calculation for Splash Mountain might be... 54 logs running through an approx. 10 minute show (let's just say that load on/off is part of that 10 minutes), each with 8 passengers... That means there could be 432 people in the loop at any given minute... but probably more around 416 (or worse... empty seats because you can't often split parties). That would be 2496 in an hour? If I waited 90 minutes for Splash Mountain on a hot summer day, that means that there were around 3744 people ahead of me?

My calculations could be totally wrong... I'm terrible at math/estimation and there's probably factors I'm missing... Anyhow, there's info on Wikipedia about many rides (ex. how many people can fit in the vehicles of Soarin' and Mission Space and the length of each show)... And you might be able to find message posts from people complaining about how long they had to wait for a specific ride... So you can probably get a bunch of rough estimates as to the length of the queues even if nobody can find some solid throughput data...

Grah! I wish I could be helpful... but alas! Well, anyhow, I wish you the best on finding your information... and if one of my smart colleagues has an idea, I'll post again... Best of luck on finding your info!

New Post Re: waiting lines Well, if you have 2 rides, you don't want the 2nd one to have the largest capacity, as it would be useless (always waiting for people to come off the first).

Aloric
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Posts: 48
(5/15/06 2:24 am)
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New Post Re: waiting lines Chad, some places to consider...

A) Living Seas as it originally opened at Epcot. It has a winding short indoor queue, which lead to a breif preshow, then a theatre presentation (there were 2 of those that alternated to keep the line moving) followed by a short line/wait to enter 1 of 3 hydrolators (think of it as a really breif movie) before yet another short line to actually board the omnimover ride.

That's one complex setup

B) Universe of Energy at Epcot. It loads a preshow of up to 500 people, and though when it first opened it loaded the show and waited a few minutes before begininng, the common practice and design is that the show loads through the preshow up until a certain point. From there all 500 guests enter the main threatre. It's an interesting way to break things up.

C) Soarin' at Epcot. The queue was made different than the previous version at DCA. It is much, much longer. This is not only so that the two show builinds can be connected, but also an attempt to rpevent the queue from overflowing into the limitted area of the Land pavilion itself. The queue holds 4 hours worth of people.

Have you also thought of hard queue versus soft queue? Hard queue is where you'll find a solid setup that though it may be rerouted or something, it's pretty much staying put. This is where you'll find the theme elements and show information. Soft queue (often the extended queue) is made from temporary stantion poles on demand with ropes and often is where the major zig-zags occur. Most every ride or show has them, as peak days need peak crowd control. Even the Universe of Energy is designed to spread out into it's courtyard with a double queue around both sides of the reflecting pool and then switchback on one side. That's a several hour wait.

New Post Re: waiting lines I remember, many moons ago, when Epcot was new, that the lines in many Future World rides were traditionally long waits. (Mind you, this is from the perspective of a 2nd Grader) I can't imagine what the wait would have been like if not for the winding ques and added "distractions". (Back then we used to say we were being tricked into thinking the lines were shorter. If only we had thought about the unpleasant alternative). But in my mind, I never saw a more elegantly crafted system of cycling people through an attraction then the Carousel of Progress. I don't know the numbers, but back in my day, Carousel always had a steady crowd of people going into it. But I never, ever remember having to wait long to get in. That was simply a brilliant design that I wish more attractions could utilize or borrow from. I know its essentially a Dark Ride in carousel form, with it's continuous presentations, but it never felt like one. It managed to utilize the same principles as a circuitous Dark Ride, but still give the impression that each show was being put on just for you, noit just passers by.